I just finished the first draft of my latest book, the eighth in the series and my first completed writing project in nearly two years. I’m done. And it feels AMAZING!
Next comes printing the thing out and reading it, which isn’t nearly as much fun as writing, though I’m occasionally pleased with something I wrote. A few times in each book, I find a sentence I don’t think could be written better. We’ll see how this latest story fares in the first edit. When that’s done I can pass the second draft along to my mom and friend Tracy, both extremely kind readers.
But I don’t need to get ahead of myself. For now, this moment, I’m just going to bask in the glory of having finished. 81,800 words, a beginning, middle and end. Even some character development along with the mystery. Its working title is Beneath These Streets, with thanks to Susan for helping me choose it.
Last week I celebrated my first royalty payment from Amazon, as well as the release of my third book on Kindle, and the exciting milestones continue with this latest endeavor. This is the kind of day that reminds me why I LOVE writing suspense novels and why I keep going, even when inspiration and creativity seem impossible, even when I miserably abandon a book at 15,000 words because I have absolutely nowhere to go with it.
Today I can look back over the past months at all the times I could have quit this story and didn’t, knowing I saw it through to the end. And it’s truly an incredible feeling.
– Emily
Emily Senecal Books 